Kissing Lessons (jikook)

4: "Do you want to practice with me?"

Jungkook was gentle in setting his stuff down, careful not to bother the library-goers who were either studying or reading. Quiet chatter didn't have that respect. While gossip was never something he followed, Ji-eun's words still popped up, emboldened across his mind.

"Are the rumors true?"

The poor guy still had no idea what she could've meant by that. Curiosity killed the cat nine times, as the story goes. He shouldn't worry about it so much. So why was he worrying about it so much?

The whispers of two male voices behind his seat capture his focus as he pretended to scroll his phone. "They must be fighting," one, a higher voice, whispered. "One of my friends told me they ate during this period."

"Be quieter; he might hear you," the other responded.

"That guy only has ears for his boyfriend. He never talks to anyone else."

Is that the sort of thing people find interesting to gossip? Gay couples? Jungkook paid more attention to his scrolling rather than the irrelevant prattling from behind. He didn't need to know about two guys dating each other. It wasn't his business.

Still, somehow, the words of the two peers met his ears against his will. Now that he'd started listening, he couldn't seem to stop. "I don't understand why everyone pays attention to those two in the first place," the lower voiced male said. "How many people even know their names?"

"Well, that one's Jungkook. . ."

The listener stopped scrolling on his phone upon hearing his name. The rumor he was involved in was him having a boyfriend? How could anyone believe that? Jungkook had dated a generous amount of girls, and not once a guy. The whole thing was stupid. He wouldn't waste his time dwelling on it.

"I think the other was. . . Jisuk? He has black hair."

"That really helps."

"I don't know how else to describe him. He's got an oval face and eyes that remind me of that one four-sided shape."

"A square?"

Jungkook tried to refrain from turning around and telling them to be quiet. They were speaking nonsense and nothing more than that.

"No. . . I'll draw it." There was a shuffling of papers and the sound of a pencil scratching against one in a hurry. "This thing."

"That's a parallelogram, dumb ass."

"I'm taking Calculus. I don't need to know shapes. But, yeah, anyways, his eyes are kind of like that, and his lips are big- Oh! It's Jimin. That's his name."

Jungkook lifted his gaze from his phone to the wood of the table. It all made some sort of sense now, why Jimin had been pushing him away. Why they couldn't be as close as they'd used to be. He knew that Jimin was always worried about what others thought, so that rumor must be tearing him apart. He and Jungkook were different in those terms. The younger didn't care.

"I think I know who you're talking about. Park Jimin, right? He's not very attractive."

And suddenly he did care.

Jungkook stood from his chair and turned to glare at the two gossiping males. Some other occupants of the library were watching him now, curious as to why he was being a distraction. He kept himself from saying anything despite his desires to tell them they weren't half as good-looking as Jimin was. He knew better than doing that. All the other people in the area would begin to talk about that next, and the rumor would only become more talked about.

His glaring was cut off by his phone ringing. He heard some annoyed sighs from the few who'd actually continued their work. Jungkook hurried to answer the call.