soft || namjoon

01

5th grade

"hey girl with the ugly name!" the class joker, kim taehyung called. ryejin turned to see the class joker and his peanuts laughing at her.

"my name is not ugly!" ryejin fell to the ground and started wailing, her cousin, hyesoo, picked her up and threw a shoe at the joker. "hey, you and your peanuts, how many times do i have to tell you to stop picking on her?" she said nonchalantly, maintaining a poker face.

"wh-what w-we're not! w-we're just stating the t-truth!" kim taehyung said, stuttering.

she threw one of her shoe at him again, "hey, if i catch you picking on her again i will shut you down for real." hyesoo said, brave and mighty.

the joker lowered his head and started running away from them.

"stop crying, we'll buy you some snacks, okay?" hyesoo comforted her puffy-eyed cousin.

ryejin nodded and they proceeded on walking towards the 1st floor cafeteria, the only cafeteria where foods are decent.

"your treat?" ryejin sniffed.

"yeah, whatever." her cousin replied, still maintaining her iconic poker face.

~

"hey, hyesoo, may i ask you something?" ryejin asked, mouth full of sandwich.

"go on." hyesoo said, not looking at her.

"why do you always have that poker face? do you laugh? or smile? is your face always tired?" the younger bombarded her with questions.

"ask taesoo." she replied and took a bite on her sandwich.

"hey! dont speak about your mom informally, mrs. park said not to do that! and also, answer honestly!" ryejin's voice slightly raised, while her hands are in fist manner at the both ends of the table.

"i dont know, born with it, i guess." she replied, nonchalantly.

"oh, i guess that's more of a better answer than the previous one." the younger nodded her head while returning to sitting properly and eating her free sandwich.

"but i still think you're really cool and brave and i would like to be as brave as you, like do you remember when you stood up for me when taehyung and his peanuts..."

and the story goes on and on..

~

namjoon's hands were trembling as they enter inside the school's building, as a child who studied only at home and never really got to have social communications, this is really scary.

eyes were glued to them as his mom and him walks in the hallway.

his mom can feel the sweaty hands holding into her, sensing the nervous boy's actions, she squeezed his hands, assuring him that it's alright.

his mom is a very successful business woman, but she still gave alot of her time to namjoon.

she lets namjoon do what he pleases but doesn't spoil him.

namjoon's the one who insisted on studying at home because he feels afraid going outside.

his mom's heels were clacking as she walks, she looks really intimidating with her red matte lipstick, designer all white outfit and LV bag, but what she looks like is the opposite of what her personality really is.

"hey, joonie, don't be scared, mommy's here." his mom's words calmed him down a bit.

'whoa, isn't that the successful ceo, kim minji? she looks really scary.'

'is that kim minji's son? i haven't heard of him for a while.'

'i didn't know she had a child, she didn't always talked about it.'

'kim minji? the famous successful ceo? wow, she must've been very busy that she has no time to be with her son.'

the childrens' moms chatters.

"mom, they're talking about you. i'm irritated." namjoon whispers.

"i'll tell them off later when i already get you to your class." his mom jokes as namjoon slightly chuckled.

~

"do you mind introducing yourself at the front, namjoon?" the adviser asked.

"oh- h-here?" he said, his heart was beating so fast that it could rip his chest.

"yes, in front of the class." the teacher nodded.

"o-okay." namjoon sighed heavily and remembered what his mom always said, 'don't be nervous.'

he fixed his uniform and started. "hello, my name is kim namjoon. i just transferred in here, i really like playing video games and studying. please take good care of me, thank you." he flashed a smile and showed his dimple.

then someone screamed.

"hey, kang ryejin, have some respect for our transferrie!" mrs. park scolded.

ryejin being ryejin, she slaps the arm of hyesoo and started whispering in a loud manner. "ohmygosh, did you see his dimples? he's so cute, hyesoo! i have a CRUSH!"

little did she know, taehyung heard her.