PROFESSOR KIM

Chapter - 5

Jungkook stared at Jimin for some time, dumbfounded by what the elder just asked him.Though he knew that it was just his best friend acting goofy, a nervous feeling crept up inside him.He couldn't really pinpoint what caused it.May it be the way his feels for his own professor or be the fact that he hid everything about it from Jimin from the starting.

"I-I...." He stuttered, looking here and there, as if trying to accumulate his shattered thoughts to form a proper answer.

"Jungkookie, hey, relax.I was just kidding." Jimin put his hand on the younger's shoulder, trying to give him some comfort when he saw the unexpected reaction of the boy.Yes, it kinda looked like he caught Jungkook doing something he shouldn't but he let it slide for the time being, feeling quite concerned for Jungkook who turned pale for some reason.

A lump formed inside Jungkook's throat as he looked at Jimin with an unreadable expression.He wanted to tell the elder about what's going on in his life.He wanted to let the elder know how much he's suffering from the insides just because he is trapped in those feelings for Taehyung who, unfortunately is his teacher.

But he was scared, scared of Jimin's reaction afterwards.Who else other than Jimin know how much of the realistic boy he is.If he expresses his feelings for their professor in front of the elder out of the blue, he is sure that Jimin would get the shock of his life.In fact, there's a high chance of Jimin laughing at him, thinking it's a prank.

Jungkook simply didn't know what to do.So he just gave his best friend a tight lipped smile before they took steps towards their classroom again.

Few more days passed by and Jungkook started noticing how close Taehyung was getting with Kim Seokjin.He'd offen see them together, either walking side by side, having talks or sometimes in the cafeteria, eating together and even sharing foods.

Jungkook has never seen anyone getting this close to Taehyung before.He couldn't help but wonder how Seokjin managed to do that so easily.He knew the answer though.He knew how it could've become possible.Kim Seokjin is a really attractive man with great humor and friendly nature.Of course, Taehyung likes the man!

The way Taehyung looks at Seokjin with loving eyes and the way Seokjin seems so caring about Taehyung doesn't look friendly at all and it hurts Jungkook.No, he is trying his best to ignore looking at Taehyung like he used to do before Seokjin came but it was hard.It was really hard to not give in to your heart's desire.

Looking at someone with love filled eyes when the person already belongs to someone is really wrong and this time, Jungkook doesn't want to give in to his feelings anymore.That's why everytime he attends Taehyung's classes, he forces himself to not look at the man even for once.

He tells his heart to stop fluttering everytime he hears the deep, soothing voice of the man.He tries not to interact in the class as much as possible so that he can stay away from the professor's view.It was getting though for him to do so but he maintained whatever he felt was right.He felt suffocated but he couldn't just act like fool again.

And that's why...

That's why Jungkook wants this one year to pass quickly.

He doesn't want to see the professor he has romantic feelings for anymore.He doesn't want to choose what's wrong anymore!

"Jungkook-ah, you sure you're alright?" Jimin asked as he looked at the younger beside him with a worried look.He noticed how the aforementioned boy who was spacing out, got startled after hearing his voice.

Jimin has noticed how Jungkook's cheerfulness has been gone for a while.He has thought about it a lot and found that Jungkook was fine before he asked the boy that question the other day.It really looked like his question caught the boy off guard.But what he didn't understand was why Jungkook wasn't talking about it to him like he usually does.

What was he even hiding?

Was it something serious?

A sigh left Jimin's mouth when he saw Jungkook nodding his head, silently telling him that he was fine.It has started to irritate Jimin now.He could already see that Jungkook was anything but fine.The boy who used to scold him like a father scolds his naughty son and was always smiling has become so dull for some reason.

Jungkook started looking like a flower plant which didn't get watered in ages.With the number of days passing, the boy kinda withered and Jimin was seriously worried for him.He can't let his idiot best friend change just like that.

He just hoped that Jungkook will open up to him soon because he really doesn't want to force him to open his mouth, not when the boy already looks so broken.Whatever it is, he will always be there for Jungkook.There's no way he'd let the boy suffer alone...

"Good afternoon, class."

Jimin's thoughts came to a halt when their math professor, Kim Taehyung entered the class in all his glory.He couldn't help but feel that Jungkook's body stiffened after hearing the man's voice that echoed inside the huge classroom.He looked at the boy only to see him arranging his notebooks with so much concentration.

May be, he was just imagining things!

For the next forty five minutes, Taehyung taught them a few new topics.Since the man was really good at his job, the whole class put all their attention on him, listening to every word that left his mouth intently.Jimin was almost sure that everyone grabbed the concepts easily because of how good the teaching was.

"I will stop here for today as I have to give all of you some projects to work on." Taehyung spoke up as he stood in front the whole class, looking serious as ever.

"And yeah..I'll choose who you'll be partners with while working in this project." He continued and the students gulped.Being project partners with someone you aren't even a friend of seemed scary!

Meanwhile, Jungkook didn't think much about it as he heard Taehyung's voice calling two names together each time.He  was sure that he could handle everything single handedly even if he's paired with someone dumb.Also, he was internally thanking the almighty because he knew, he won't have to attend this class for the next week because of the project work.He was just glad that he was getting a week break from the torture he is going through.

But Jungkook's world almost stopped when he heard what the professor said after a while -

"Since everyone except Mr. Jeon is already paired with their project partners, I'll be the one to help him throughout the project work."