ᴄʜᴀsɪɴɢ ʀᴀɪɴʙᴏᴡ

11. Whole system and racism

Ye Meera Divanapan Hai - Susheela Raman

Taehyung

Nights seemed like fragrances of my favorite and best-smelling shower gels and days were like my favorite breakfast. He was always around at night, wandering out, looking at us. But since when I introduced him to my friend, Wolfgang, and he has gotten into the sports club, it has become easier to approach him.

I still got offers from people, but the all-consuming desire for Jungkook has been unbeatable. No one could remedy that, no one but Jungkook. I have come to realize that for good. 

Unlike Jimin, and despite his warnings, I didn't care much about the decorum. The Asian community here has been on the receiving end of hate often. In my case, I had become more popular than the locals and faster.

As soon as we started here, we learned how an Asian girl in the senior batch was restricted and alleged of cheating on her finals. She was surely a legend, a perfect-score kinda student, but she did the mistake of thinking she was invincible. The thing about the meager insects is that they always strike when we least expect them, behind our backs. When everyone planted evidence on her, she had no one standing with her. She was kicked out. I've heard she now works in an asylum as an assistant back in Korea, even after probably knowing more than the experienced doctors there. 

That's where being famous came in handy. It became a necessity to seize control. It gave me and my friends an opportunity to protect our own, and for that, we needed to strategize, to form partnerships with the locals because even if I and my friends gained popularity quickly, there was no guarantee that we wouldn't meet the same fate like that girl, or worse. We were always under the hanging threat.

Our arrangement with locals was practical, and everyone was aware of it, except no one knew that true friendship was going to bloom amongst us.

Jimin found his potential — and we all feel — future life partner there. She was as German as they came, but she was also kind, talented, hardworking, and against racism. 

Christoph's father was in the military and had secured himself a senior position before retiring. As a result, we got to party at his house, the safest location in the city. No one lived there, so it was open for us or any friendly seniors at any time.

Anja's family came from a traditional line of enologists. As a result, we always had our 'store of trust' where no one asked us our age and papers to buy liquors anywhere in the city.

Then, Rosenow belonged to a family that was all doctors. His father, mother, grandparents, and every single one of them was in healthcare. It definitely helped us pave the way in the University for other Asians.

If there was a group people thought twice to go against, it was ours. 

Like I said, we wanted to protect our own.

Every class had an understanding of sorts. We didn't intervene with our seniors, and similarly, our juniors didn't really have a say in our affairs. In a way, we were an exception to even be in an inner circle of the locals who were in the game of dominance and power. The professors here were all aware of drugs being brought in, the secret parties, and the sneaking of girls in the boys' dormitories, but everything worked like well-oiled machinery. We always turned blind eye to others, and that was why Jimin has been worried lately because of my interest in Jungkook.