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09
Just Exaggerating

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JISOO

January 18th

"Jisoo, I'm sorry but, this essay won't be good for your grade. You have finals soon, so that might boost it a bit but I really feel like you can do better."

Mrs. Lee's disappointed look causes a small pit of shame to boil in my stomach. I know literature isn't my strongest subject, but I wasn't expecting it to be this bad.

"I understand."

Her expression softens, "I know it's been a hard time for everyone with what's happened, so I'll give you and Taehyung an extension, okay?"

The essay was due yesterday, and I had scrambled to finish it after a long night of work. Taehyung had his completed from way before, so it surprised me that he needed an extension too.

"You both can do a lot better than this." She hands me my paper back, "I added some marks on what you should change or fix, so take a look at those. You can turn it in next Friday."

"That long?"

She smiles, "With what happened, it's hard to even come to school. I want you to take care of your health, Jisoo. I know you're living alone."

"Thank you, Mrs. Lee."  I don't comment on how she knew I'm living alone as I'm leaving the room. She's supposed to think that I'm living with my aunt.

My aunt took my brother and I in only out of pity. I rarely see her but she sends us money every now and then. I'm sure she's living her best life overseas.

School just ended, and I'm now walking home. These past two days, Taehyung has been oddly jumpy, and doesn't pester me as much as he used to. I assume it's because we were almost done with our essay at the time. He probably wants nothing to do with me anymore.

The atmosphere at school has been different too. Although it's been a week, the memories would never go away. People always had a group with them, never walked alone, and no one meandered the halls unless necessary.

Some students gossiped about the "superheroes" that saved them that day. Some people even talked about the floating objects and whatnot. No teacher said anything, but other students called those people crazy. The events of the shooting were traumatizing enough that those claims could be written off as hallucinations.

Every time I saw fear or hesitance written on someone's face, it fueled my desire to cleanse the leaves more. If I have to do this fifty times, then so be it.

I'll cleanse a hundred if I have to. Not just to get the wish for Jungkook, but also for the greater good.

When I reach my apartment, my phone buzzes.

Taehyung

hii

did the teacher talk to u?

ugh we have to redo the essay T-T

She did.

Finals are in like a month so let's finish it asap.

wowo u start studying so early hahaha

i dont study until like the day b4

LMAO

When should we work on it?

anytmeee!

im always free for you

Today after school.

yess that's great!

my house?

K.

I sigh. That's more of my energy needed on this stupid project. I have to admit though, Taehyung wasn't as stuck up as I thought he was.

When helping me out at work, he didn't verbally complain once about any of the chores, though I saw how uncomfortable he was.

Truthfully, it was a little amusing to see him like that.

Upon returning home, I'm greeted by Jin.

"Welcome home!" He hugs me and I pat his back awkwardly. For the past few days, Jin has made it a habit to be at my house every once in a while.

Sometimes, he'd just watch TV, ask me about homework, or cook for me (which was greatly appreciated). It's almost as if he's a pet waiting for me to come home.

The real pet, Dude, is huddled up in the corner of the room, presumably taking a nap.

"Hi Jin."

"You look unhappy today," he comments, phasing through the table to get to the couch. I've gotten used to it.

"That obvious?" He nods and I sigh again, "I have to redo that essay."

"Oh the one you have with that boy?"

"Yep." I plop onto the couch, "I hope it doesn't take too much of my time."

"Why not? Do you not like hanging out with him?"

I think about it for a moment, "Not that I hate hanging out with him, it's more like, I know that I shouldn't be because making friends is a waste of my time."

It's true. He's not as cocky as I thought, although he still did do some things that made him seem pretentious, especially money-wise(wearing Gucci to an animal shelter).

Jin rolls his eyes and sighs, leaning forward to give me a firm stare, "Be honest," he starts, "Is it a waste of time to make friends, or are you just scared? You told V that, right? You're scared of making friends."

His eyes are burning into my soul. It must be a guardian thing, but Jin has a knack for seeing right through me.

"You like talking to V because he's behind a mask so don't feel as scared to open up," he continues, "Am I right or am I right?"

He takes my flabbergasted expression as a yes. It's almost like he knows me better than I do.

"I'm right." He smirks cockily.

"Shut up," I say, for a lack of better words.

"As a 1019 year old, I want to give you some wise words," he pauses for effect, eyes boring into mine with an uncharacteristic intensity, "If you keep up that mindset, you're gonna end up alone."

He isn't saying that to be mean. He's warning me.

As much as I hate to admit it, I have a soft spot for Jin. Maybe it's because of the humorous way he constantly inflates his ego, or maybe it's the strange motherly presence he's developed in this past month. Because of that, I'm more fearful than angry at his words.

"What are you suggesting that I do then? It's not like I can erase years of childhood trauma if I just make friends!"

"You can't." Jin's usually cheerful expression is replaced by one of utter seriousness and urgency, "But you can save yourself a lot of heartache if you open up little by little. I'd say, start with that Taehyung guy."

I groan internally, but consider his words.

"If not, then start with the V guy. You feel more comfortable with him anyways."

Making friends has always been a fear of mine, so I resorted to being as cold as possible to avoid that. But I knew that I'd have to face it as some point.

Especially when I don't have Jungkook anymore.

I sigh, "Fine, I'll try."

Jin notices my distressed expression.

"Hey, look, don't get too freaked out by what I said. I wasn't joking, but it's not the end of the world. Besides, you already did good by kind of opening up to V!" He encourages me in an effort to cheer me up.

I chuckle a bit, seeing that not-serious Jin is back.

"But you're right. It's only because he's anonymous that I was able to talk to him," I lay back on the couch, curling into a fetus position to keep warmer. "Why do we have to stay anonymous again?"

"The Sender of the leaves is unknown, remember?"

I frown, "So why can't I know V's identity? Don't get me wrong, it's not like I want to, I just don't understand why not."

"Because," Jin sighs, "If you guys know each other's identities, there's a higher chance of The Sender finding out who you are. Imagine accidentally calling out his real name in a fight. That's really dangerous."

I nod, taking in the information.

"If anyone knows that you're RC, your family members could get targeted. Imagine someone holding Jungkook hostage while threatening you."

I shudder at the mere thought of it. I started all of this for Jungkook after all.

"So that's why no one can know who you are. At least not until you find out who The Sender is."

____

I'm still trying to get used to the fancy walls and high ceilings of Taehyung's house. Ugh, rich people.

He offered me Fiji water earlier--Fiji!

"So I looked through our essays and compared it to the rubric, and I think I know what we're missing," he says, pointing to our papers.

I lean over the table to get a better look as Taehyung explains, but he doesn't say anything. I eye him curiously, not noticing how close our faces got.

"Ahem, uh anyways," he coughs, "For the 'comfort' section where we have to explain how home brings comfort, we didn't really elaborate on that very well. Same thing for the 'attachment' section. We need to explain why we are attached to this place or person."

Grabbing a pen to mark the areas I need to fix, I nod and hum in agreement. Thank goodness he's better at literature than me.

"Okay, well," he starts again, "What about your apartment brings you comfort? Why are you attached to it?"

I frown. The answer I'd given before was that I spent a lot of time in it, but that wasn't good enough.

"Do you have any special memories in that apartment? I know you don't talk about him much, but did your brother spend time there with you?"

The me from two weeks ago would've avoided this question, but I recall Jin's words from earlier. I have to at least try to open up. I hope Taehyung can't sense how hard this is for me.

"Well, I guess I don't have memories with Jungkook in my apartment, but I do have a lot of memories with Jungkook."

I watch his intent gaze nervously.

"I have a lot of memories of him singing. He likes to sing. Jungkook really likes singing," I blurt out, a lot more abruptly than I'd like. "He's really good at singing and it makes me happy. I like his singing."

Taehyung doesn't seem to judge my choppy sentences, and actually smiles at my answer.

"He makes you feel at home when he sings?" he questions for clarification.

"Yep," I practically squeak.

Sirens are going off in my head with how hard my heart is uncomfortably pounding. I've never told anyone about Jungkook's talent, because I've always wanted to keep it my little secret.

"So is the apartment your home or is Jungkook?"

"Jungkook," I say without hesitation, then realize that Taehyung would have to rewrite his entire essay. "Well, it could be both? I don't know. You can honestly make things up about me so you don't have to rewrite the essay."

"Nah, I'll rewrite it." He waves a dismissive hand in the air, "Thanks."

"Why are you thanking me?"

"It took a lot in you to say that, didn't it?" He sports a boxy grin, looking absolutely over the moon. He also grabs the pen from my hand to make some notes.

Why is he so freaking happy?

I feel myself getting annoyed at how he noticed my nervousness.

"No way." I glare at him, and roughly snatch my pen from his hand. "Don't think that you know me."

Despite my venom-laced voice, his smile never fades.

TAEHYUNG

"Don't think that you know me."

I smile wider when she says that, because it's true. I don't know her at all, but I'd really like to.

She's been oddly lenient with me today. Usually, she'd groan at every question I'd ask, but today, she's been answering without complaint. While she seems a bit hesitant, I'm glad that she's making an effort to talk to me and not completely avoid conversation. We've been working for a while now as it's already pretty late, and our brains are fried.

"I think this is good for today, yeah?" I arrange my papers and stuff them into my binder.

"It should be good. I'm glad she gave us till next Friday, since we're practically rewriting our entire essay." Jisoo packs up her stuff too.

I'm also glad that Mrs. Lee gave us that long of an extension because I get to spend more time with Jisoo, but I would never say that out loud.

My feelings about her are still a little muddy, because I've never liked someone like this before. Sure I've had crushes here and there but I've never been truly so invested in getting to know someone.

It's exciting.

"Well, I'll text you when we should meet again," Jisoo says, heading towards the door, and I go to walk her out.

Before she can make it out of my room, I hear a car pull into the driveway. Jisoo hears it too, and curiously turns to my window that overlooks the front of my house.

Oh shoot. Please don't tell me it's who I think it is.

When I look through the window, my biggest fear is confirmed.

My parents are home.

"Is that your parents?" Jisoo asks, "I thought you said they didn't live with you?"

"They don't, but they love to visit randomly without any warning." I can't hide the bitter tone in my voice.

After the shooting at school, it took them two whole days to give me a call and make sure that I was okay. Shouldn't parents call their kids immediately? I was already having a hard time being by myself at home. Just seeing them puts me in a bad mood.

"Should I... say hi to them?" Jisoo looks rightfully nervous at the thought of greeting my parents, and I realize the predicament I'm in.

My parents are going to think that I have a girl over and probably kill me. Not to mention, they'll probably start scolding me in front of Jisoo and she's going to think I'm lame and then she'll hate me and then we'll never start dating--

Wait what?

Okay, all I know right now is that I need Jisoo to get out of here without my parents seeing her.

I create the most puppy-faced expression I can, "Jisoo, would it be alright if you uh, climbed out my window?"

"No."

"Please!" I bring my hands to a begging gesture, "I can't explain it well but my parents would beat me up and get super duper mad if they saw me hanging out with a girl!"

Her entire body stiffens at my words, and she walks over to me slowly.

"You said that they beat you?"

"What? No! It's just a form of exaggeration, but like, still! Please help me out here."

I can't exactly tell what her face is saying, but all I know is that at some point, she looks like she's about to cry.

"I'm sorry for asking you this but I'll literally do anything if you help me out. Please, just this once! I don't want to die tonight!" I continue to beg and Jisoo remains silent for a moment.

Finally, she walks up to me, and yanks my collar. I gulp at the proximity of our faces and how her eyes are piercing into mine.

"Don't... don't you ever say that--" She blinks a few times mid sentence, almost as if realizing what she's doing.

"Jisoo?"

"Nevermind." She abruptly lets go of my collar and walks to my window. Confused and dazed, it takes me a second to regain my senses.

I must've said something wrong.

"I'm sorry." Is my lame attempt of relieving the tension in the air.

She glares at me, her expression a mixture of anger and regret, "Don't apologize to me." I can only watch in silence as she grabs her backpack, opens the window, and sits at the ledge.

"Taehyung!" My father calls.

"Come downstairs!" That's my mom.

I panic, "Okay, do you think you can climb down, do you need a rope? I don't want to keep my parents waiting for too long so if you don't want to climb down can you hide in my closet? I'm so sorry again, oh my gosh I--"

"Go to your parents. I'll figure it out."

Guilt overwhelms me when she jumps out the window. No rope, no preparation, she just jumps.

If she landed on the ground she would've broken a leg, but instead, she bounces off the ledge of another window. Then, she rolls onto the grassy part of my driveway.

My jaw almost drops to the floor upon seeing her skills.

"Are you good?" I stick my head out the window.

She doesn't reply, instead opting to give me a thumbs up. Then, she runs into the night with her head down, not bothering to spare me another glance.

"Taehyung? I know you're here, I saw your lights on." There are two knocks at the door.

I take a deep breath, preparing myself for a long night of interrogation about my grades while pushing my worries about Jisoo aside.

JISOO

Stupid stupid stupid!

I hold back my sobs as I run through the streets. I couldn't even tell Taehyung that I was fine after jumping out the window because I was too afraid of my voice cracking.

I can't even handle an exaggeration without losing my temper or completely breaking down.

Forget about being friends with Taehyung.

Forget about making friends.

Author's Note:

Here's Jisoo's apartment layout that I tried to sketch for those who are curious:
(please excuse the messiness of it LMAO)

And here is V's outfit (pls ignore the blue line art ik it looks weird HAHA) I made that instead of doing math hw :,) I also put this in "purple" but putting it here again just in case lololol

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU FOR READINGGGG!1!1!1!

<3 lalalalala7fire