14th April 2019

The first day of high school was supposed to feel special.

For Taehyung, it felt unfamiliar.

He stood near the bus window with earphones plugged in, watching the roads pass by while anxiety and excitement quietly fought inside his chest. Beside him sat his sister, Lisa, equally silent but calmer than him.

A new school.

New people.

A completely different beginning.

The school bus finally stopped in front of the huge iron gates. Students were rushing inside with sleepy faces and unfinished conversations while Taehyung simply stood there for a moment, adjusting the straps of his bag and taking a deep breath.

“Come on,” Lisa nudged him softly.

And just like that, they stepped into a place that would unknowingly change their lives.

The campus was bigger than his previous school. Louder too. Taehyung kept looking around, trying to memorize corridors and buildings so he wouldn’t get lost later.

Right after entering, he noticed a familiar face.

Not exactly a friend.

Just someone he knew enough to exchange smiles with.

“Oh, hey… you transferred here too?” she asked with slight surprise.

“Yeah,” Taehyung smiled awkwardly. “Just today.”

The conversation was short and simple—nothing important, just the kind strangers have when they recognize each other in a new place. But somehow, it made him feel a little less nervous.

After that, Taehyung walked Lisa to her classroom first.

“Don’t get lost,” she joked before entering her class.

“I should be telling you that,” he replied.

Once Lisa disappeared inside, Taehyung started searching for his own classroom. He wandered through unfamiliar hallways, reading classroom numbers again and again until a teacher finally noticed his confusion.

“You seem lost,” the teacher said with a small smile.

Taehyung laughed awkwardly. “A little.”

The teacher helped him find the classroom and even walked part of the way with him. Later, Taehyung would find out that the same teacher was going to be his biology teacher for the entire year.

But the first day itself was far from serious.

Since it was the beginning of the session, barely any students had shown up. Only a few classmates were present, and instead of regular classes, everyone was told to sit in the library for the day.

And honestly?

It turned out better than expected.

The entire day passed quietly and comfortably. Some students talked among themselves, some explored parts of the campus, while Taehyung mostly sat in the library observing everything around him. The nervousness he carried in the morning slowly faded into curiosity.

Nothing dramatic happened that day.

No life-changing moment.

No special encounter.

No sign that years later he would remember this exact day while trying to write it into a story.

It was simply a normal first day.

And maybe that’s what made it memorable.

...

i hope you will like this story. thankyou for reading my work. I'll try my best to write it as well as possible. thankyou once again. bye bye see you in next chapter.

Second Day

The second day of school felt slightly more organized than the first, but still unfamiliar enough to make Taehyung feel like he was walking through someone else’s life.

As instructed, all students gathered on the ground after reaching school. The morning air was filled with scattered conversations, footsteps, and the restless energy of a new academic beginning.

Taehyung stood somewhere in the crowd with Lisa not far away, adjusting his bag strap while listening to announcements being made.

That’s when he met someone new.

A boy who happened to share the same interest in K-dramas.

It started casually—just a comment about a show, then another reply, and suddenly it turned into an easy conversation as if they had known each other longer than a few minutes.

His name was Jimin.

There was something about him that made talking effortless, like familiarity forming too quickly in a place full of strangers.

Soon after, classes were allocated, homeroom teachers were assigned, and the students were directed to their respective classrooms.

When Taehyung stepped inside his classroom, it already had the quiet chaos of a first-week setup—students choosing seats, scanning faces, testing where they would belong.

The classroom had three distinct sections: one row beside the windows, one in the middle, and one near the main entrance.

Taehyung chose the middle row.

Third bench.

Not too far. Not too close.

Just… in between everything.

In front of him, on the second bench of the middle row, sat two girls already talking softly. On the first bench of the front row, two boys were seated, relaxed and unaware of how new everything still felt.

Then the homeroom teacher entered.

The room settled immediately.

She introduced herself with calm authority and asked everyone to do the same—one by one.

Names, places, brief smiles, nervous voices.

Taehyung stood up when his turn came.

“Hi, I’m Taehyung,” he said, voice steady but quiet. “I live in… this city.”

He sat down before his nervousness could turn into something more noticeable.

One by one, the introductions continued.

The girls in front spoke next, their voices blending into the room’s growing familiarity. Then came the boys seated in the front row.

The first one stood up.

“Park Seo Jeon,” he said confidently.

A simple introduction, but enough to register in the room.

Then the second boy stood.

Taehyung didn’t look directly at him at first. He was still adjusting his notebook, still half-focused on random thoughts, until the voice reached him.

“My name is Jeon Jungkook,” the boy said.

Something about his voice made Taehyung pause.

Not loud. Not dramatic. Just… clear. Distinct.

For a moment, Taehyung didn’t even look up properly. He just repeated the name in his mind.

"Jeon Jungkook."

Testing it silently, like it was unfamiliar but strangely easy to remember.

The boy was sitting in the front row, back turned slightly toward him. Taehyung could only see his outline, the way he leaned a little forward after speaking, as if he didn’t think his introduction mattered much at all.

But Taehyung found himself paying attention anyway.

The rest of the day passed slowly in introductions, small interactions, and settling into unfamiliar seats. But Taehyung’s mind kept returning to that voice.

He tried to see his face properly during the day—subtly, without making it obvious. But every time he attempted, there was always something in the way. A movement. A turn. A distraction.

He only caught glimpses.

And that was enough to make his curiosity worse.

It wasn’t until the end of the school day, when students started leaving in small groups and the noise softened, that Taehyung finally saw him clearly—for a brief moment.

A side profile.

Nothing dramatic. Just a passing angle as the boy turned while walking.

But it stayed with him longer than expected.

As Taehyung stepped out of the classroom, he found himself thinking something quietly, almost unconsciously.

Can he be my friend?

And immediately after that—

another thought followed, softer but more uncertain.

Will he even want to be?

.........

Days turned into a quiet pattern.

School. Notes. Silence. Observation. Home.

And Taehyung slowly became familiar with the rhythm of it all.

But one thing didn’t change.

Jungkook.

He noticed him more than he should have—small moments scattered across ordinary days. The way he talked easily with others, the way laughter seemed to come naturally to him, the way he never seemed trapped inside his own thoughts.

He was… free.

And Taehyung wasn’t.

Somewhere along the way, admiration started forming quietly inside him. Not loud enough to be named at first, but strong enough to stay.

Jungkook was everything Taehyung wasn’t.

Extroverted. Playful. Effortless in conversation. Someone who could walk into any space and somehow belong to it.

And Taehyung, on the other hand, was the opposite.

Reserved. Quiet. Careful with words. Someone who observed more than he spoke.

He would sit in his usual place—first row, second bench—and that seat slowly became something constant. Predictable. Safe.

For months, it stayed that way.

Until Jimin.

Jimin approached him one day with the kind of ease that only close friends have.

“Sit with me,” he had said simply.

And Taehyung agreed.

That small shift changed something.

He moved to the middle row.

And slowly, without even realizing it, he started loosening up. Not suddenly. Not dramatically. Just in small ways.

A few more conversations. A few more smiles. A little less silence.

But even then, he wasn’t someone who belonged to the loudness of the classroom. He still returned to his notebook, still stayed in his own space most of the time.

Still… he noticed Jungkook.

Every day felt the same in structure, but never in feeling.

Go to school.

Sit.

Write notes.

Look up occasionally.

And somewhere in between—wonder.

Can I be his friend?

Will he ever notice me?

That question stayed longer than anything else.

One day, while casually scrolling through Instagram, something unexpected happened.

Jungkook’s name appeared in suggestions.

Taehyung stared at it longer than he should have.

A small hesitation. A breath held too long.

And then, impulsively, he sent a friend request.

But panic came just as fast as courage.

Within moments, he deleted it.

That’s weird. He’ll think it’s strange.

He told himself that and moved on, trying to act like nothing had happened.

A few days later, everything shifted.

A notification.

A friend request.

From him.

Taehyung froze.

For a moment, he thought it was a mistake. He checked the name again. Then again. Then one more time, just to be sure.

It was Jungkook.

Real. Clear. Undeniable.

And for the first time, Taehyung felt something close to disbelief.

He accepted it.

And almost immediately, a message appeared.

Simple. Casual. Like it had always been meant to happen.

They talked.

About school. About how things were going. About how the days felt in a new environment.

And then Jungkook said something that stayed with Taehyung longer than expected.

He had thought Taehyung would be boring.

But after talking, he realized he wasn’t.

He was just quiet.

That distinction mattered more than it should have.

From that day on, something changed.

Not in school. Not in how they sat or walked past each other.

But in the unseen space between them.

Messages after school.

Small conversations that started without planning.

A connection that didn’t announce itself as important—but quietly became so anyway.

And for Taehyung, that was the beginning.

Not of a friendship.

Not of a story.

But of something he didn’t yet know how to name.

.........