THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Moment of Truth, Pt. 4

Jieun ran and ran.

She couldn't believe it. All this while, it had been Lisa. Lisa was the one who dropped Hoseok's watch into her bag. Lisa was the one who hid Jackson's worksheet in Minhyun's bag. Lisa was the one who had instigated the mass bag-checking that exposed Jieun of stealing the watch.

Lisa was the one who framed her. Lisa was the one who had made her life this miserable. Lisa was the one who hated her to the bones.

All because of she ruined her art grades.

She knew it wasn't really her fault, afterall it could be simply Lisa's way of letting out her angst towards her mom or... herself. But at the same time, she couldn't help but feel like she had a part to play in it, somehow.

If she hadn't transferred to this school, this class, this year... she wouldn't have entered Lisa's life. She wouldn't have seen that fire, she wouldn't have fainted, she wouldn't have been such a terrible art project group mate... nothing would have happened.

Then maybe, Lisa wouldn't have had to resort to such horrible means to get her out of the school. She had borne the brunt of Lisa's wrongdoings, but she was also the one who had caused it.

Maybe it really was her fault.

Jieun didn't stop running until she reached the rooftop. She dropped to her knees and sobbed non-stop, until she felt like she had no more tears left.

Creak...

The door to the rooftop opened. Someone walked in and Jieun looked up immediately.

Jungkook...

Jieun couldn't stop herself. She stood up, walked towards him and flung herself into his arms. She simply wanted a hug.

Not from anyone... from him.

She knew that he was someone who would accept her for who she was, listen to her, advise her, maybe lend her a shoulder to cry on...

Jungkook stood still for a few seconds, stiff to the bone, before hugging her back gently.

The two of them stood there for a while, arms wrapped around each other, in complete silence.

"You alright?" Jungkook whispered gently, not letting go of Jieun.

"It was Lisa," Jieun answered, blinking her tears out of her eyes. "It was Lisa all this while."

Jungkook didn't answer for a while.

"She hated me all this while..." Jieun sobbed. "First, she tried to steal you from me. It didn't work... so she resorted to framing me for the watch."

"I know."

"You know?" Jieun looked up briefly, before realising that her face was literally inches away from his. She tried backing away, but Jungkook still had his arms around her.

"It's okay," Jungkook said gently. "You can lean on me for a while."

Jieun pursed her lips and looked away, resting her head on Jungkook's shoulder once more.

"I saw you guys shouting at each other earlier..." Jungkook continued. "Kind of pieced it together. That's why I followed you up here, too."

"She hates me," Jieun sighed. "Because of the art grades... she wanted to get back at me. I feel like I have a part to play in this."

"How?" Jungkook frowned. "You literally didn't do anything wrong."

"I did..." Jieun muttered. "I did..."

"What did you do wrong then?"

"I..." Jieun hesitated. "I... came to this school. I saw the fire, I fainted, she got bad art grades as a result." That actually sounded dumb when spoken out loud. "Wait..."

Jungkook laughed, finally letting go of Jieun. "That sounds stupid to you too, doesn't it?"

It sounded perfectly logical in her head earlier...

Jungkook held Jieun by her shoulders, looking at her directly in the eyes. "You're always like that, blaming yourself for things anything that goes wrong. This obviously isn't your fault, trust me."

"But..."

"Now, all we have to do is think of what to do next," Jungkook said firmly. "First thing we should do now is report her to the principal-"

"What?" Jieun exclaimed.

Jungkook frowned. "Don't tell me you intend to let her off for this?"

"Well, not really..." Jieun frowned. "Maybe you weren't there before that... but Lisa's life is terrible enough! Her mom treats her like a machine, expecting her to go to this class and that class and she doesn't even enjoy dancing and if we tell the principal, he's gonna get her expelled-"

Jungkook pulled her into sudden hug, causing her to be startled instead this time. "Jungkook, what-"

"I was this startled when you hugged me earlier," Jungkook said with a grin. "But I liked it. Also, what did you say about her stealing me from you?"

"I said that?" Jieun pursed her lips, trying hard not to blush. "Sorry, I-"

"I liked that too."

Jieun blushed furiously.

"Let me settle this matter for you," Jungkook said quietly. "Can you trust me?"

Jieun thought for a while. Jungkook was indeed someone to be trusted.

She grinned.

"I can."